She Believes

[Octavious]

So, the climax of the She Believes Cup is underway, and has actually been put on tv!

Now, I've been led to believe that woman's football was very much on the up, and in places like the USA was genuinely big. So where the hell is everybody?

Clearly whoever she is believed that the sport was a lot more popular than it is, because the idiot in charge has put the match in a 65,000 seater stadium and sold 65 tickets. This is an embarrassment to football.

[Octavious]

You get a greater appreciation for the communication on the pitch, as the shouting of the players is drowning out the polite applause of both supporters.

[Octavious]

The football itself isn't bad. There are genuine moments of high level skill, and the players are putting a shift in. The defending is pretty shoddy, especially from Japan, but it's entertaining enough. It's just a shame it's been let down so badly by the organisers.

[MajorMitchell]

I'm a big fan of Womens Australian Rules Football and will also watch women's soccer, but I don't like watching women's golf even though I like golf. Golf is my sanctuary from ...
But getting back to Australian Rules Football, Women's games, they're great entertainment. One of the leading players comes from a famous South Australian footballing family, the patriarch was Fos Williams a part Aboriginal man & champion Australian Rules Football player & then coach. Several sons made their mark in the game. One of Fos Williams grand daughters had athletic talent & drive to succeed, and of course played football with her brothers & cousins as a youngster, but there wasn't an elite level Women's AFL competition, so she went into basketball ball & had a career in professional Women's basketball in the USA. She gave that up and returned to South Australia 2 or 3 years ago when the AFL set up it's elite level Women's Australian Rules Football competition where the major Men's AFL clubs (not all 16, but moving that way) have a Women's team. Who is the champion basketball player, now Captain (?) of the Adelaide Women's AFL team to whom I refer ?

[Octavious]

Woman's sport is a bit of a mixed bag for me. You have a small number of sports with true equality (equestrian springs to mind) and some where for historical reasons women make up the elite (netball, say), but mostly it's a poor relation in terms of skill and audience.

At the end of day, though, professional sport is about entertainment more than skill in isolation, which is why woman's tennis was arguably superior to men's back in the days of the Sampras serve and volley. A major part of the entertainment is about atmosphere, which is why it's so frustrating that the She Believes match was put in a cavernous 65,000 seater stadium when it would have been far more enjoyable a spectacle in a 5,000 seater venue. The organisers robbed the event of its atmosphere, and made it all look a bit silly.

More importantly, England won, and the Yanks didn't :D

[dyager_nh]

In the US, they made an American Football league where women play in lingerie.
Thats how the "yanks" roll.

[MajorMitchell]

Well Women's AFL in Australia is no "bunnies in lingerie" farce, it's a fair dinkum go in hard, competitive sport. Yes there's a woeful difference in salaries between the elite Men's AFL players and the Women's AFL, but it's a national start up competition in it's early years. That's why it's a limited number of clubs fielding teams with a managed growth plan. So it's a start & looks to have a great future.
Who was the champion player I referred to ? Google Erin Phillips

[MajorMitchell]

Please do, Google Erin Victoria Phillips. See what a top Women's AFL Player looks like.